


Backyard Camping

by GemmaRose



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 17:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/889802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What's a sleepover without a ghost story?</p>
<p>de-anon from rotg-kink</p>
            </blockquote>





	Backyard Camping

Jamie Bennett, Caleb and Claude Lewellyn, and Monty Penn were seated in a rough square on their sleeping bags, the remnants of a game of Go Fish splayed across the tarp-like floor of the twins' tent. "So..." Jamie began with a grin. "Wanna tell ghost stories?"

All three faces lit up, and Jamie grabbed his flashlight. The lantern clicked off easily, and for a moment the boys shuffled up to cross-legged in near-total darkness. Then Jamie flicked the flashlight on under his chin and grinned as evilly as he could. "They say," he intoned as seriously as he could manage, lowering his voice about half an octave. "That many hundreds of years ago there was a town before this one. The name long forgotten, it was filled with creatures of magic and evil."

Claude scoffed, but Monty shushed him.

"Every day the people of the town waged bloody war on each other, and the children were no exception. But there were two kids who didn't want to fight. All they wanted was to play and enjoy the beautiful seasons of the forest. Their names have been lost to the ages, but their story has not.

He paused, and flashed his most menacing smile. "One winter day, while battle raged in the town, the two children snuck away to their pond. The elder one was a boy, and he was determined to teach the younger girl how to skate. But the ice was thin that day.

Clyde gasped quietly, and Claude snickered at his brother's surprise but said nothing.

Jamie rolled his eyes. "The ice was thin." he repeated, "but the water was crafty. It desired blood as much as the people of the town did, so it was quiet and still, and permitted the boy to drag his sister along across its surface until she drew apart from him. The lake waited until the boy was unlacing his own skates to put them on, and while he was distracted it began to crack.

"The girl cried and begged, and after some though the crafty boy came up with an idea. He would trick the lake into playing a game with them, and lead the girl back to shore. So they played hopscotch, and laughed so loud the lake began to laugh with them. But then the girl set foot on land, and the lake became angry. It had been cheated of its meal! The ice beneath the boy shattered, and the lake dragged him down, down, down to the very bottom.

Monty rubbed his arms, trying to banish the goosebumps which had raised there.

"That very night, the boy's ghost rose from the lake. They say that if you watch veeeeeery closely when the light is just right, you can sometimes see him playing hopscotch on the lake. But never, ever go to play with him. Because the lake is still waiting for another body to fill its empty belly. And if you go out to the woods alone on a cold winter night, you can hear him searching for his body. He calls for someone, anyone to answer: 'Take me hooooome. Take me hoooome!'

There was a brief silence, then Jamie flashed his best wicked smirk and clicked off the light. Clyde screamed bloody murder, and Jamie hit the power switch on the lantern with a laugh. Claude had grabbed his brother's ankle and tugged, and soon all four boys were laughing like fools.

"That was a good one, Jamie." Monty commented as they were lying down to finally sleep. "Where'd you hear it?"

Jamie shrugged, looking at the ceiling. "I made it up myself. There was a kid who drowned in the lake a while back, I just..." he screwed up his face, hunting for the right word. "Embellished a little bit."

His friends chuckled, and with the lantern set as low as it would go they drifted off one by one into peaceful slumber, blissfully unaware of the shell-shocked spirit who sat outside the zippered tent door.


End file.
